Not At Home
by paigee.yovkoff
Summary: "A small smile touched her lips when she remembered tripping over the cord and pulling the plug out as they had stumbled into a messy heap on the bed." Based on sneak peek for 4x05. Completely strays from actual episode. Established Nell/Callen.
1. Part I

**Not At Home.  
Words: **745**  
Couple: **Nell Jones and G Callen.**  
TV Show: **NCIS: Los Angeles**  
Disclaimer: **All characters/quotes you recognise belong to Shane Brennan. All mistakes are mine.**  
Based on the sneak peek for 'Out of the Past' that may seem it's Nelric but it has Nallen written all over the ending.  
Established Nell/Callen.  
Characters may seem slightly OC.**

…

The phone on the bedside table was vibrating, and it only just brought her from her sleep. Her eyes blinking at the light shining through the window between the small crack in the curtains. Moving her hand along the sheets to find a cold empty bed her eyes snapped open. Finally aware of her surroundings and the pounding in her head, she sat up.

The comforter on the other side of the bed was thrown back, and looking around the room she saw the clothes from the night before thrown over the room. Frowning slightly, she turned to find the alarm clock disconnected. A small smile touched her lips when she remembered tripping over the cord and pulling the plug out as they had stumbled into a messy heap on the bed.

Rubbing her eyes with one hand, she reached to grab the other, seeing her partner's name on the caller ID she answered.

"_Where are you! We have a case and Hetty didn't say anything about you being assigned anywhere else today, and you're not here! I've called about a hundred times Nell, what the hell!"  
"_Eric, what's going on?" she replied with a yawn.  
"_It's nearly mid-day and you're not at work."  
_Her eyes widened, pulling the phone away from her ear to look at the time, "shit. I'll be there in twenty."

She threw the phone back on the bed without any hesitation, springing from the mattress and running through the house to the laundry. Swearing at herself she smacked her head lightly against the door frame, looking at the dirty pile of washing on the floor and her only dress poking out the top.

She raced back to the bedroom, throwing on the clothes that were scattered across the bedroom floor, struggling to button up the dress as she wrestled with her hair, ultimately giving up when she realised that brushing it wouldn't matter, it wasn't going to help.

Picking her keys off of the brown bench top as she passed the kitchen and raced through the front door, she completely ignored the small slip of paper on the bench with his hand-writing. '_Told Hetty you won't be coming in today. Just sleep it off._'

…

Nell Jones bounded into the ops centre, stopping the debrief occurring at the time. She dropped her now broken heels on the ground next to her desk and sat down, trying to divert attention from the red hot blush burning her cheeks, she turned the computer on and made to start working on reports.

"Sam and I will go to the apartment and go through his files again, maybe we missed the code the first time around," G Callen announced, bringing the attention away from the embarrassed intelligence analyst, "Kensi and Deeks, go talk to the girlfriend again, I have a feeling she was lying about something. Eric you should probably come with Sam and I, just incase."

The younger man nodded, following Sam Hanna from the room with the sound of his flip-flops clapping against his heels as he did. Waiting for the rest of his team to leave, the ex-CIA operative turned to Nell, watching her turn around, with raised eyebrows.

"You let me sleep in."  
"You needed it."  
"I was late for work, _really late_."  
"I told Hetty that you weren't coming in today."  
"What gave you that right?"  
"I'm not going to argue with you now, not here Pixie."

She sighed, running her fingers through her knotted hair. Looking down at her clothes the crinkled button up dress making her fell dirty and ashamed of something she knew she shouldn't be.

"I didn't have any clothes at your place, they were all in the wash," she explained, trying to flatten it with her hands.  
"There's one way to change that, you know."  
"G, don't. Just, please. Not now."  
"Just think about it Nell, but you don't have to answer yet, it's just an idea."

He gave her a small smile, promising to stop by her place and grab her a change of clothes before coming back to ops, and left the room. Sighing again she rested her elbows on her knees, her face in her hands. As the computer beeped behind her she slowly turned around, knowing that the out-of-character G Callen was going to be back later and she'll have to answer.

But how do you answer to something so committing, with someone who can't commit?

…

_Uh. So when I started this it was the day before the ep aired and I'd only just seen the sneak peek where Nell calls Eric on the thingy-ma-bob and Eric says something then Callen walked in and then yeah. But uh, I didn't think it'd turn into this._

_I'm almost finished, which means it shouldn't become abandoned like 'Told From Here' (WHICH I AM WORKING ON! I JUST HAVE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HORRIBLE DANGER I SHALL PUT NELL JONES AND G CALLEN THROUGH! /leevilpaigee!) and it should be a three-parter. I hope only three parter. I said that about 'For Sale' and look where I am..._

_Thank you!_

_Review?_


	2. Part II

**Not At Home.  
Words: **927  
**Couple: **Nell Jones and G Callen.  
**TV Show: **NCIS: Los Angeles  
**Disclaimer: **All characters/quotes you recognise belong to Shane Brennan. All mistakes are mine.  
**Based on the sneak peek for 'Out of the Past' that may seem it's Nelric but it has Nallen written all over the ending.  
Established Nell/Callen.  
Characters may seem slightly OC.**

…

Eric Beale sat awkwardly in the back of the Aston Martin. He fidgeted with the corner of her tablet, and he gave nervous glances out the window towards the door of his partner's apartment. It wasn't that he felt out of place in the back seat of the exCIA-agent's car, he had gotten over that fear a long time ago, it was that he was _confused_.

"Six months," Sam Hanna said, looking at the man through the rear-view mirror.  
"Six months what?"  
"Six months they've been together."  
"Oh, okay, that's cool."  
The federal agent chuckled, shaking his head slightly, "you're not going to be able to give G that whole 'if-you-hurt-my-best-friend-I'll-hurt-you' speech, not that he won't be scared, but Kensi bet you to it last month when she caught them out on team night."  
"I wasn't going to."  
"He intimidates you, that's why."  
"No Sam, he's perfect for her."

Sam frowned, looking over his shoulder at the man with a confused look. Eric sat there with a secret smile on his face, knowing that the man was looking for another reaction from the ex-hacker.

"I'm not jealous of him, I have no reason to be," he smiled.  
"_You're _dating someone?" Sam asked him, as the driver seat door opened and G Callen threw a duffle bag with Nell's clothes in it over onto the backseat to land beside Eric.  
"You say it like you're hurt Sam," Callen said to his partner, slipping the keys back into the ignition as he shut his door.  
"Not hurt, just-"  
"Don't dig a hole Sam," his partner chuckled, pulling them away from the small apartment, "you're getting worse than Deeks."

…

The doors to the op centre opened, the noise alerting Nell Jones to her visitor, but she didn't turn around, continuing to type at the computer in front of her, yet again behind on paperwork. She listened as Eric's chair was rolled along the floor to her seat and she didn't turn as she heard her visitor stop it and sit down beside her desk.

"Callen had to go back out into the field, had to go talk to an old informant," Kensi Blye's voice stated casually, "gave me a bag of clothes to give to you."  
"Thanks, I'll change later, I have to finish this first," the intelligence analyst said, giving her friend a glance, but continuing on with her work.  
"You can tell me."  
"Tell you what?"  
"Tell me about the fight. What did he do this time?" the woman laughed quietly, "leave the toilet seat up? Probably pulled the toaster apart and didn't put it back together, apparently he does that a lot."  
"He asked me to move in with him."

Kensi silent laugh to some obscene private joke stopped, her eyes widening as she tried her best to understand the younger woman's confession.

"The one man who knows nothing about commitment," she started slowly, "the one man who is _terrified _of settling down, scared that every relationship he has is doomed to end, sat there across the kitchen bench from me and talked to me about moving in together, about getting _married_."  
"Thats-uh-that's big. 'Specially for G."  
"It's big for me too," Nell groaned, finally turning to look at her friend, "I don't think _either _of us have had a relationship this long, I mean, even the 'three-little-words' are hard to say between us."  
"So he's said them then?"  
"Yeah, he has, but-"  
"Move in with him."

The female federal agent watched the woman in front of her, who stared at her with wide brown eyes.

"I can't tell you the last time that Callen has been in a relationship as long as this, I don't even think Gibbs could, and the fact that he's told you he loves you? Even if it's been only a few times?" Kensi laughed, louder this time, "just move in with him, wait a few months and demand you get married, then nine months after the honeymoon you'll be having little G Callen's running around the house."  
"You're crazy," Nell told her.  
"I'm happy to see that at least one relationship in this place isn't going down hill," she smiled, "besides, how often do I actually get girl time with Deeks following me around like a lost puppy?"

Sharing a smile with the woman, she leant forward and gave her a hug, before standing up and dragging Eric's chair back to his spot before leaving the woman alone in the communications centre. Sighing, Nell Jones turned her chair back to face her computer, resting her head against the cool desk top. Her eyes glanced over to where G Callen's duffle bag sat next to her desk full of her clothes.

She groaned, hitting her head on the desk.

"You 'kay there partner?" Eric asked, entering the centre.  
"I'm fine," she murmured, lifting her head and starting back on her work, trying to convince herself that she was.

Her eyes kept glancing over the the bag. The clothes that lay inside were ones that he couldn't have gotten without a key, they committed to that. That was a large commitment, wasn't it? She knew that they basically lived in each other's houses – she had a section cleaned out in his wardrobe, books and knick knacks laying around the house on benches, as did he at her apartment – so _moving in _together wouldn't be that much of a step. She sighed, asking continuing to ask herself that question for the rest of the day.

…

_Okay. So I had finished this – which I had said in the last author's note – and it will be a three-parter. My question for myself is – HOW DID I LOSE THE OTHER TWO CHAPTERS AND FORGET TO UPDATE? -.-_

_Kensi seems OC-ish in this chapter, well. Everyone seems OC-ish in all of my stories. And the end sort of ended up being a mess. But still. Apologies?_

_And apologies for this being posted like a month and a bit later..._

_Thank you for reading!_

_Review?_


	3. Part III

**Not At Home.  
Words: **1588  
**Couple: **Nell Jones and G Callen.  
**TV Show: **NCIS: Los Angeles  
**Disclaimer: **All characters/quotes you recognise belong to Shane Brennan. All mistakes are mine.  
**Based on the sneak peek for 'Out of the Past' that may seem it's Nelric but it has Nallen written all over the ending.  
Established Nell/Callen.  
Characters may seem slightly OC.**

…

She didn't get home until late, it had to be almost 2200 hours when she had finished all of the paperwork and written up the reports on what she had found from their recent case. When she pulled up, she sat in the driver's seat staring at the Aston Martin that sat idle on the curb. They had plans for dinner, she'd forgotten.

With a sigh, she closed her eyes for a moment, opening as she pushed the car door open and got out of the car. The duffle bag in the back seat with her clothes from the previous day and her broken pair of heels could wait. The front porch light had been on and from where she was standing she could see lights coming from the two front windows, his shadow showing that he was moving from the lounge room into the kitchen. He'd probably cooked and put it in the over while he waited for her to come home.

The intelligence analyst slowly unlocked the door, pushing it open and closing it behind her as she entered her apartment, listening out for anything that he might call out to her. When she realised that she could only hear the sound of him pulling something from her oven, she dropped her keys and phone with his in a bowl on the small table by her front door and pulled the draw open to find the gun safe locked. While she kept her own personal piece in another safe in her bedroom, he had begun using the one by her front door.

Slowly walking towards the kitchen area, she listened to the sound of his footsteps around her kitchen area. He knew where everything was in the room, and everywhere else in the house, he was completely at home whenever he walked through the door. Nell knew she should be taking that as a sign that they were ready to move in together, but she still felt confused.

"Lasagne?" he said, not turning away from her fridge as he searched for the bottle of wine that had been bought almost a month earlier and not touched.  
"Uh, yeah," she answered hesitantly, everything feeling too casual after the day they'd just had.

She walked further into the bright room, placing her hands on the kitchen island before hopping up onto one of the bar stools. Her eyes followed him as he moved away from the fridge, carrying a bottle of wine in one hand as he moved to grab two wine glasses with the other.

"Paperwork finished?" the exCIA-agent questioned as he placed the glasses on the marble bench with the glass bottle.  
"Yeah, should be good for a couple of weeks," Nell nodded slowly, taking one of the glasses he passed to her, "or at least until the next big undercover operation."  
"Or until Deeks hands in his next expense report," Callen chuckled.

Giving a small smile she took a sip from the glass, continuing to watch him as he moved around the kitchen. He hadn't attempted to make eye contact with her since she'd arrived. It made the entire thing feel even more awkward than it was.

"G?"  
"Just have to reheat the food, it should only be-"  
"G, please just stop," she said louder this time, "can you look at me?"

Her eyes followed him, slowly standing and turning around to face her with his eyebrows raised while he tried to pretend her was oblivious to what was happening.

"Can we talk about this?" Nell asked – _demanded –_ him, "this giant elephant that's dancing around this kitchen?"  
"Talk about what Nell?"  
Running a hand down her face, she placed the wine glass back onto the bench and sighed, "last night, we sat here, and you talked about moving in together, getting married, having kids, having a _life _together. You sat there and talked about commitment, something we both know you're completely scared of, something I'm _terrified _of, and you just shrugged it off like it never happen. Hell, we ended up back in bed with each other when we got back to your place, and personally, this is all too _casual _for me," she told him, "normally you'd be terrified at the idea of us being together, and we both know how long it took for us to get used to the idea of being a couple, and that was still nearly four months into this 'relationship'"  
"God, you're adorable you know that?" he replied simply, a smirk on his face as her eyes met his.  
"I'm sorry, _what_?"  
"When you get confused, and you begin to over think things, you get all flustered and you talk at about 100 miles an hour and you just don't stop. I guess it's just one of those things that will never stop amazing me," Callen murmured, his smirk turning into a large smile.

Nell frowned, confused at what he was saying. His attitude about the _entire thing_ was confusing, so unlike him.

"I'm not scared of commitment, at least not anymore," he explained, taking a sip from the wine glass in front of him before adding, "not with you I'm not scared, I guess being with someone as scared about it as me makes it a lot easier to handle."  
"I don't get it."  
"I run from relationships Nell, they normally only last a few weeks, and here we are, six months later, and neither of us have run yet. I was confused, sure, but I guess I didn't worry about it too much because we were comfortable with what we'd become."

Her feet rested on the bar at the bottom of the bar stool, her leg bouncing up and down nervously. She felt jittery, as though she had some big secret that she wanted to tell, but there was no secret. Everything she wanted to say was out in the open.

"So, yes, I sat here and talked about us moving in together, getting married, having a future," he smiled at the thought, "because I'm not scared of this anymore. With that being said, I guess this is it for me. You're it for me."  
"I'm terrified G."  
"I know you are, I know," Callen said, leaning forward towards her and grabbing her hand, "and I don't care if we don't take another step in this relationship for another few months, or even years, I just needed you to know that I'm not scared anymore."

She nodded slowly, squeezing his hand when she felt his grip tighten slightly. In her head she thought over it, everything just a jumble of words, blurring together and confusing her further.

"Okay."  
"Okay?"  
"Let's do it."  
"Do what?"  
Nell smiled, "let's move in together."  
"What happened to being terrified?" he asked, eyebrows raised.  
"If I keep thinking this over, I'm just going to put it off. I'm never going to answer and eventually we'll end up in a dead-locked relationship running around in circles and that'll just cause it to fizzle out and it'll be gone," she said, mentally slapping herself for rambling again, "and besides, I prefer your lounge room, more space for a larger bookshelf."

Her eyes flittered to their hands, clasped in the middle of the bench, and she only looked up when she heard his laughter. His smile was large and highly contagious, cocking her head to the side she watched him reach for his glass.

"Guess you can go back and tell Kensi that she got her wish," Callen commented, taking a sip from the wine glass in front of him.  
"How do you know that Kensi came to talk to me?" the intelligence analyst's eyes widened.  
"I may have gotten a speech from her just before I left, telling me that I'm lucky and she will hurt me if anything happens. Basically just backing up the speech from last month," he chuckled slightly, "and we thought Hetty was scary."

Nell laughed, leaning across the bench to kiss him. She felt him drop hand to cup the back of her neck trying to pull her closer.

"Sam owes me twenty," he murmured against her lips with a smile.  
Pulling away with wide eyes she said, "you made a bet on whether or not I'd agree to move in with you?"  
"No, we made a bet on what house you'd go to."

Her eyes narrowed in confusion, watching his step away from the bench, and her, to pull a dish from the oven.

"Why would you do that?"  
"Deeks started it," he shrugged.  
"Deeks wasn't with you at all today, he was with Kensi."  
"Still started it," Callen smirked, looking up from the dish of food that he began serving, he stopped her from talking by continuing, "Deeks and Kensi are betting on whose house we'll move into."  
"Yours obviously," she answered, looking at him as though he was going crazy.  
"This I want to hear," Callen told her, raising an eyebrow smugly, "why my house."  
"It's simple."  
"Really how?"  
"More room in your lounge room for a large bookshelf."  
The federal agent in front of her laughed, "of course."

Smiling at him, Nell stood off the bar stool and moved around the bench to grab knives and forks, listening to him talk about Kensi and Deeks' reasoning for each other their bets. As she took a plate and moved to follow him into the lounge room, she continued to tell herself that this was right. Because neither were going to run away from this commitment.

…

_Egh. So. I sorta got like, really weird at the end. And everyone became just so OC. And yeah. And it's mostly the last episodes fault. Because like. Nelric looks so canon there. And I don't want Nelric canon. And yeah._

_Enough rambling!_

_I'm writing up the plan of 'Told From Here' and maybe sure I have it backed up this time. So I'm hoping to have it started again before school starts next year (maybe mid January?) but it's a working progress!_

_Thank you for the reviews on the last two parts!_


End file.
